Mark W. Christy, PhD, Pastor of MBC in Channelview, TX
To begin with, flesh in and of itself is not sinful. Sin is disobedience in regard to God’s Law; therefore, it is an action and a rebellion against God (1 John 3:4). It is birthed in the heart of a person whereby their desire is to disobey God. This was Jesus point throughout the Sermon on the Mount. In His sermon, he demonstrates that evil, hate, greed, etc. arise from the heart of a person. it is person inhabiting flesh who is the sinner because he/she willfully chooses to break God’s Law because their own desires are directed against Him. To put this another way, the person and not his/her flesh commits sin. Furthermore, their inner being (i.e., the desires of their heart) is sinful at birth in such a way that they are born predisposed to sin. As the sinner sins in accordance with their evil desires (that are present from conception), they corrupt their flesh. At this point, let us consider what is meant by ‘sinful flesh’ in relation to the Person of Christ.
According to Paul, “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom 8:3).[i] Sinful flesh cannot be (as the aforementioned material hopefully shows) flesh that has sinned; rather, sinful flesh is fleshed marred by sin as the sinner (the person who willfully chooses to sin in line with the evil desires of their hearts) deliberately chooses to disobey God. Jesus, as the perfect Son of God, was born with the same flesh as every other fallen person in this world. He was, after all, born from a fleshly mother who herself was a child of a fleshly man. While this truth should not be in contention, one could rightfully ask how Paul could say that Jesus was sent “in the likeness of sinful flesh”. As the perfect Son of God, the person of Christ had a heart that perfectly desired to obey God unlike every other man. While his flesh was the same, His person did not possess a sin nature.
At this point, I would like to discuss a recent sermon in which I briefly addressed this. In the sermon, I referred to Christ’s flesh as fallen even though he was without sin. Unfortunately, even I would have to admit that my words could have been more carefully chosen so as to ensure that my hearers would receive the truth as it is. Given this, I hope to articulate my meaning a little better at this time.
Jesus was both fully God and man. In his flesh, he was like all of us. He was a man and, according to Romans 8:3, possessed “the likeness of sinful flesh”. If indeed His “likeness of sinful flesh” could be construed as a defect, then the sacrifice of Christ on the cross would be displeasing to God based on Leviticus 17:1 (cf. Lev 22:20). Since Jesus was the Perfect Son of God, how could He have no defect and still possess “the likeness of sinful flesh”? Jesus ultimately inherited His flesh from fallen Adam. Like fallen Adam, he was susceptible to hunger, fatigue, death, etc. Despite this, he did not inherit Adam’s sinful nature in such a way that sin and it effects attached to His person (His inner self, His desires, His will).
After Romans 8:3, Paul continues in vv.4-8 to argue that Christ condemned sin in the flesh
“in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”
In v.8. Paul makes it clear that “those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” Unlike all other people, Jesus possessed flesh and yet remained outside of the realm of the flesh because He is the only begotten, perfect Son of God. As Peter states, “He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased”” (2 Pet 1:17).
Whereas Christians, as Paul teaches, are called to live according to the Spirit having been enabled to do so at the point of salvation whereby they experienced the new birth in Christ, Christ lived according to the Spirit from the point of conception because He is the Son of God. Unlike us, His mind was always upon what the Spirit desires; it was always “governed by the Spirit”, and so he had in and of himself “life and peace”. At no point was the mind of Christ (His will and desires) hostile to God for He always submitted to God’s Law. Thus, He pleased God.
Once again, was His flesh sinful? No, Christ had no internal defect because His desires were always for God and He always acted perfectly in line with those desires. If Christ’s flesh was not sinful, how could Paul say that He possessed the “likeness of sinful flesh”. His flesh, like ours, was subjected to the effects of Adam’s sin in such a way that He would experience suffering like us despite His sinlessness. His flesh, to be clear, was fallen in the sense that He suffered the effects of Adam’s sin and not in the sense that He sinned.
[i]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.